a1pcfixer wrote:
Paul,

A check of the power numbers here, shows the estimated power consumption
to be wildly optimistic. Measurements of a real card, yield 21W as
the peak power consumption of GT 220. In terms of your computer, that will be
coming from the 12V rail, and thus is a load of around 12V @ 2A, from the
motherboard slot connector.

Thanks for that info, it helps.
The following one you recommended is more towards what I'd like to get........

Http://www.gpureview.com/GeForce-GT-...-card-619.html

That one is looking mighty good!

I noticed the reviews stating these cards have an onboard audio chip, ported
through the HDMI connection. I don't (yet) use the HDMI port, and my onboard
MoBo audio is disabled, instead running my audio via an external Creative Labs
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Video Editor (USB 2.x connection)

Do you see any problems with that GT 240 card's onboard audio & my setup?

Maybe my current 8500GT has it too & I didn't notice as I'm not using the HDMI
port?


Jim L.

When you have Audio over HDMI, then expect to find an additional selection
in your Sound control panel. You may see two output devices listed, your
existing USB audio device, and the new audio over HDMI (HDaudio) device.
All that you have to do, is click the one you want the audio to come out
on, and that should be it.

Depending on your cunning with drivers, it might also be possible to
disable the HDMI audio entirely, and not give it a driver. You can use
Device Manager to disabled devices you don't want. But if the driver
package on the CD in the video card box, insists on installing everything,
you can just use the Sound control panel to sort out who gets the signal.
(That would be the "path of least resistance".)

This isn't the exact control panel, but it illustrates making the choice.

http://webpages.charter.net/chew_toy...Audio%20-1.PNG

I've found in the past, that when a sound driver installs, it tends to
go to the Sound control panel, and make itself the desired choice. In your
case, you'll want to undo that, so after the new card is installed,
the selection will be in the wrong position for what you want. Chances
are, you'll need to change it back.

One other word of warning - the safe computing warning. While installing
new hardware is normally a seamless, and happy experience, sometimes
stuff happens. Make sure you have a backup of your C:, before installing
the new card. If you have regrets later, you'll have something to restore
with, and try again.

I normally uninstall the existing driver, shut down, unplug the old card,
plug in the new card, then use the new installer CD to do the job. I follow
that method now, after filling one of my OS installs with all sorts of garbage
(three different brands of video cards). To avoid too much irrelevant
cruft, it helps to uninstall the existing driver, just before changing
the hardware. (That way, you don't have ATI files still running on your
Nvidia machine, or vice versa.)

Paul